Cookies are made of butter and love.
~Norwegian Proverb
I have made a shocking observation.
No baking recipes have been past down to me.
Looking for something to bake the other day I realized I have zip from my mothers side in Sweden and zip from my dads side in Norway.
This can't be normal?
I hear of people using their mothers, aunties, grandmothers recipes in both baking and cooking.
Depressed I tried thinking why this has occurred- why am I left out in the Nordic cold???!
Ousted from a legacy- a break in tradition.
I actually got pretty depressed about this, being an only child I had no siblings to confer with to see if the could recollect anything from the past.
The only thing that comes to mind is that in that 40-50's era
baking wasn't common for the "lady of the house"
- it was the jungfru (the live in maid) that did the cooking.
Both of my parents grew up their mothers (my grandmothers) really did not hold down the fort domestically speaking.
My mom had 2 live in maids- to take care of the brood, laundry, cleaning the house, cooking and laundry. My grandfather was obviously working but my grandmother was also working as a teacher and was not home all day.
These jungfru's where usually young women that became part of the family, had room and board. Later on they left (or never) when married and started their own families.
My father had a closer and fonder memories of his "Dadda" than his own mother...she never left, she stayed and was part of the family. Dadda (my father always called her this) would go home to Stavanger occasionally to visit her family but return to "ours" to live.
I can't ever remember my grandmother in the kitchen cooking or baking.
Except for one time when she had a glass of wine in hand leaned over the stove to retrieve some salt and pepper and her apron caught fire...that was pretty exciting!!!
Sure I ate plenty of delicious cakes and confections with my family but again they were baked by the jungfrus.
As a kid I baked all the time, it was a nice thing to have something sweet on the weekends like cookies or cakes to celebrate special occasions.
We had a pretty serious home ec. teacher in school that taught us how to both bake and cook.
Ninna, my grandmother when she was older,
was the taste tester when I baked, many lovely memories from those times.
These recipes are in Norwegian and Swedish and are written for for their types of flour and yeasts etc, which is hard to really get correct in American measurements.
So the question is:
DO I have nothing to pass on to my kids?
Armed with all my cook books I sat at the kitchen table and made a plan.
I'm coming up with my own legacy.
We talked about this at dinner last night and all 4 kids have so many memories of me baking for them and with them...a good thing.
Embarking on a new adventure I am hell bend on baking, making, creating a few recipes that I can pass down to my kids.
Chocolate cake- from Moosewood.
I love Molly Katzen and use her cookbooks often
Making a bloody mess in the kitchen as usual but who cares I'm on a mission.
Kitchen aid is whirring and ABBA blaring ...I am in the zone.
Like a chocolate cake sunrise, it emerges.
Very happy and tasted delish!
( Okay I forgot to finely chop the hazelnuts)
Chocolate is the answer. Who cares what the question is.
~Author Unknown
I will continue on my quest of establishing a few divine baking recipes
to be tested, tasted and maybe even part of a tradition in this household.
Question:
What is your favorite go to/ no fail baking cook book?
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Addendum
My mom emailed me after she read this post and wrote:
Jungfrus names were; Brita, Greta, and Signe the youngest,she was the most outspoken and later changed her name to "Helena". Helena married a veterinarian that I ( my mother) visited in Mariannelund enroute to Oland. The veterinarian loved to drive at fast speeds and when he drove over a pothole in the road we all bounced around and banged our head in the ceiling of the car. I dreamed of becoming a vet when I grew up...but not so much after having to watch him artificial inseminate the cows so that they could have calves....but everything with the horses was fun.
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